Respond to these rapid questions in our Taken 3 quiz and we will tell you which Taken 3 character you are. Play it now.
After racking up a daunting body count in both France (“Taken”) and Turkey (“Taken 2”), the destructive Mills family (who really should think about going into the witness protection program, not only for their own safety, but for ours) turn their sights on the sunny freeways of their home town, Los Angeles, in the film “Taken 3.” In addition to having a title that is both unimaginative and, as it turns out, inaccurate, Oliver Megaton’s take on the Taken franchise, “Taken 3,” is both unimaginative and excessively dramatic. The film is driven by apathy, which is supported by Liam Neeson’s sincere performance, as it always is, as well as the additional gravitas provided by Forest Whitaker, who plays the police officer who is pursuing Neeson. Both “Taken” and “Taken 2” were ridiculous but entertaining; both the story and the way they were filmed were carefully crafted to make them into effective thrillers despite their absurdity. Although many people did not care for the sequel, I found it to be quite enjoyable, particularly the cinematic use of the architecture in Istanbul, which demonstrated a genuine understanding of how action taking place in a very specific landscape can be exciting and suspenseful. Many people did not care for the sequel. Taken 3 doesn’t want to take the time to set things up carefully or clearly, so even though you get the impression that you’re driving on the highway out to Malibu or careening along the 405, the movie doesn’t make use of the specific landscape or architecture to help tell its story. This is because the filmmakers don’t want to take the time. It’s nothing more than a chaotic display of flash cuts. Even the more sedate and personal family scenes are filled with so many sweeping up-from-below shots and so many unexpected inserts that the moments (emotional or physical) are never given a chance to settle.
Both “Taken” and “Taken 2” were dramas about people being kidnapped, with the first film focusing on the kidnapping of a daughter and the second film focusing on the kidnapping of an ex-wife. The plot of “Taken 3” also involves international criminals but deviates from previous installments in the series. Spoilers will be provided from this point forward. Lenore Mills (Famke Janssen), who is unhappy in her marriage to sweaty Stuart (Dougray Scott), reaches out to Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) for comfort and bagels and maybe something more. Bryan Mills, played by Liam Neeson, lives in Los Angeles, where he plays golf with his friends from Special Ops and offers support to his ex-wife, Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson). Even though their daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) is a college student now, Bryan still refers to her as his little girl (even though her professional stunt-driver skills in “Taken 2” should have clued him in that she is a highly capable human, not to mention her ability to run across the tilting rooftops of Istanbul, lobbing grenades at innocent parking lots in order to signal her location). But then Lenore turns up dead, and Bryan is wrongly accused of being the one who killed her. Instead of remaining in the area to defend himself against the accusations, he vanishes into Los Angeles and becomes a fugitive.
Because Bryan is the most resourceful man on the planet (he makes MacGyver look like a slacker), his situation does not resemble that of Richard Kimble from “The Fugitive,” who was in a desperate situation while on the run. Oh no, Bryan is able to break into security cameras, download GPS information from vehicles that have been stolen, and has access to high-end weaponry, not to mention the support of his fellow superspies. Bryan is being pursued by the cop Franck Dotzler, played by Whitaker, who is always one step behind him, frustrated, but also mildly amused at the ingenuity of his adversary. Mills is described as a ghost, a phantom, and a mastermind by Dotzler, who advises his officers not to underestimate him. Bryan is resolute in his intention to conduct his own investigation, and he will remove any obstacles that stand in his way. This includes an inept security guard at the hospital, the students attending Kim’s university, and the rent-a-cop who was hired to drive Bryan back to the police station.
But you shouldn’t waste any more time and start this Taken 3 quiz.
To be fair, nobody likes the “Taken” movies because they are based on real events, but “Taken 3” pushes the bounds of realism to such an extreme that the experience as a whole is dulling. The bullets from an automatic weapon that are fired at Bryan from a distance of only three feet away are able to be deflected by Bryan because he is so indestructible that he is able to survive a car crash that nobody else could survive (with not even a scratch on him).
Taken 3 Quiz
The incredible amount of cuts that occur during each scene guarantees that the audience will never have the opportunity to become accustomed to the setting or, for that matter, to become emotionally invested in the events that are taking place. Although Liam Neeson’s physical prowess is impressive, the fight scenes in the movie are shot with so many cuts that the action itself is never entirely clear. A car that was taken over by Mills ended up driving the wrong way down a crowded freeway during one of the scenes involving a car chase that also involved multiple police cars, an 18-wheeler, and various commuters on the road. At the very least, I have the impression that is what I was seeing. The fucked-up editing makes it impossible to tell, and it made me yearn, longingly, for the classic car chase scene in “To Live and Die in L.A.,” also involving a car barreling the wrong way down a freeway. I found myself wishing for that scene. The visceral and engrossing scene in “To Live and Die in L.A.” was filmed in such a way that the audience never loses their sense of where they are in space while watching it. It is not enough to show a car flipping over in slow motion while surrounding it with one hundred quick edits designed to make the audience feel disoriented in order to have an effective car chase scene. Ironically, taking that approach will ultimately result in the film appearing to be overly earnest and laborious.
Also, you will find out which character are you in this Taken 3 quiz.
Surprisingly, the repeated sweeping aerial shots that advance the script in “Taken 3” are the film’s strongest moments, even though the story is entirely predictable. The focus of the camera is maintained on a single location (the freeway, the skyscrapers of downtown, a pier on the beach, or the canal) for a brief period of time… …and the movie is kind enough to realize that we need a visual perspective at that precise moment, so it shows us where we are in relation to the rest of the universe. Unfortunately, because of those aerial shots, we have time to think thoughts such as, “Maybe I should pop in ‘The Fugitive’ or ‘To Live and Die in L.A.’ because those movies did it better.”
For more personality quizzes check this: Get Hard Quiz.
